senate seat was a goner. now democrat heidi heitkamp has turned certain defeat into a toss-up. she could win, and she joins us here tonight. >>> finally, you knew this was coming. >> a bunch of malarkey. >> yeah. >> what does that mean? >> it's irish. >> no, no, no. irish is i come over there and smack that dumb look off your face. >> "snl" takes on the vice presidential debate in the "sideshow," that and a preview of a helium filled debate between myself and bill o'reilly. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> we've got some new poll numbers in some key battleground states. first in florida, a new ppp poll shows a tight race down there with mitt romney leading obama by one. that's numbers are so close, 49%, 48%. in north carolina ppp has romney up two, 49%, 47%. in pennsylvania president obama's lead is down to four points. obama, 49%, romney, 45%. in ohio, president obama's firewall seems to be holding there. the new ppp poll there has obama up by five, 51%, 46%. in new mexico a new "albuquerque journal" poll has the president up ten. boy, these states are different, 39%, 39%